THE ENCHAINED
Cassie knelt in the dirt, staring down the long row between the cornfields, hoping that at any moment, Shaun would reappear. She imagined him coming back into view, his eyes downcast; she could almost see him as he apologized and embraced her, making everything all right in the world again.
He never returned.
Salty tears blurred her vision, spilling down her cheeks in fiery tracks. Ryan crashed through the field and onto the path, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her. He was saying something, but she couldn’t hear him – she withdrew from the world, everything becoming a distant blur of noise and color.
A helicopter wheeled overhead, the rotors buffeting the green stalks and almost knocking her over. Tallon was there, helping her to her feet, asking her questions that she didn’t have answers to. Where did you go? Where’s Shaun? Were the Adjusters there? Where’s Shaun?
She mumbled her replies, too numb to form a coherent sentence.
Ryan helped her up into the helicopter, asking her a steady stream of questions; she blocked him out, staring at the cabin floor, fixated on something the others couldn’t see.
“He just left,” she whispered, her voice trembling. “How could he just…walk away?”
At that, Ryan fell silent.
Through the static buzzing in her mind, she heard Tallon contact Eaglepoint Station and request a satellite to track down Shaun. A tactical team would be deployed to find him, to bring him back to Brightwood Ranch.
It doesn’t matter, she thought, a hollow pit opening in her stomach, threatening to swallow her whole. He said we were in this together. Why would he leave?
So what if the Bureau had made the Timewalkers? What difference did it make, whether they were a genetic mutation or a science experiment? Either way, Cassie’s life had been torn apart by the Adjusters – she had lost contact with her family, lost her freedom, and been turned into a soldier, broken down and reshaped by the Bureau of Time. At least the agency could protect her from the Adjusters.
Those faceless monsters were the true enemy, not the Bureau.
“We’re out of fuel,” Tallon shouted over the roar of the engines. “We’re touching down a few miles outside Brightwood and driving the rest of the way. Vehicles are already there waiting.”
Cassie nodded. She didn’t trust herself to speak.
The helicopter landed in a grassy field, and she was led at a half-crouch under the blades toward a black SUV on the road. The driver was in the front seat, and she climbed into the back beside Ryan. Tallon took the passenger seat and the car pulled away from the helicopter, destined for Brightwood Ranch.
“Listen,” Tallon said, turning around in the seat to look at her. He hesitated, his dark eyes darting all over her face, analyzing her in a way that made her skin crawl. “I don’t know what happened out there, but if you know something, you need to tell us. Shaun could be in danger.”
She sniffed, wiping her cheeks for the hundredth time, her hand still coming away wet.
“I don’t know where he is,” she said, her voice tiny.
“Cassie, what happened?” Tallon asked. There was a sharp edge to his question, interrogative. She shrank back in her seat – what could she say? Should she tell him the truth, about the Bureau, about Timewalkers, about parallel universes? It sounded too impossible to believe, not unless you had seen the other world in the flesh.
“She needs time,” Ryan said, coming to her rescue. “Anderson will debrief her anyway.”
“Yes,” Tallon said, coming up short. He turned back around. “Yes, I suppose he will.”
The hills of Brightwood Ranch came into view. Cassie saw the anti-Temporal fence ringing the entire facility, protecting it from Adjusters. She also saw small figures standing outside the front gate, perhaps soldiers or guards, though she’d never known there to be so many outside the perimeter.
“Things are changing in the Bureau,” Tallon said, his voice unexpectedly loud and powerful. “I hope you know, for whatever it’s worth, that I wanted to be long gone before this day came. But unfortunately, schedules were moved up, and my role has changed with it.”
Cassie wiped her eyes. She didn’t know what Tallon was blathering on about, and she didn’t care either.
The people grew larger, and she could see their faces.
They didn’t have faces.
“This agency has grown too large, too quickly,” Tallon continued, as the SUV continued toward the front entrance. “It is the apex predator in a food chain evolving to defeat it. It cannot be allowed to operate unchecked. The scales must be balanced, and this war must be ended before it can begin for the second time.”
Cassie’s blood turned to ice. Tallon’s hoarse voice radiated power in the close confines of the car; no, it wasn’t his voice. His body was radiating Temporal Energy.
Carl Tallon was a Timewalker.
When it happened, Cassie couldn’t rewind time. Her Affinity was suddenly blocked, stopping her from accessing T.E. – she could feel it, but it remained beyond her reach.
Tallon drew his handgun from his belt and shot the driver in the side of the head. Blood splattered against the glass window, and the driver’s body sagged forward, depressing the accelerator.
A startled scream caught in Cassie’s throat, drowned out by Ryan’s roar of surprise.
The figures at the entrance parted, and the SUV slammed into the gate, accelerating even faster. The gate tore apart, taking a section of the fence with it; there was a rumbling explosion somewhere ahead of them, but her eyes were fixed on a tree ahead.
She fumbled with her seatbelt, trying to undo the clasp; Ryan dived over her and tried to grapple with Tallon. The Captain pushed the door open and threw himself from the moving vehicle, rolling away just as the car slammed into the tree.
Cassie’s body jarred, and the seatbelt cut across her body, knocking the wind out of her. The impact resonated through her bones, whipping her head back with a snap; blood rushed through her skull and made her dizzy.
“Get out!” Ryan roared, kicking the side door open. He undid Cassie’s seatbelt and dragged her out of the SUV and onto the ground, crouching over her protectively.
She looked around, dazed, struggling to comprehend what was happening. The world swam before her, then came together with sharp clarity. Tallon appeared out of nowhere and kicked Ryan in the face; the operator went sprawling, his carbine slipping beneath the mangled wreck of the SUV.
“Please,” Cassie gasped, fumbling for a weapon, for anything to defend herself with. “Please, please…”
Tallon towered over her, a wicked sneer on his face. “Have some dignity, you little brat.”
He lashed out with a clenched fist, and she hit the ground, her cheek stinging. From her vantage point, the world was turned on its side. The front gate was completely ruined, and the fence too—
The fence. Its anti-Temporal field was gone.
The base had lost its most import defense.
“Figured it out, little girl?” Tallon spat. He laughed cruelly, his true personality breaking through the tattered façade. “We rigged the generators with explosives. The Bureau is completely dark.”
And then Cassie saw her.
The woman strutted through the ruined gate, long black hair sweeping down her back, her pale face hawkish – too severe to be truly beautiful. Behind her came three Adjusters, all wearing black with red sashes around their arms; and behind them came even more, teleporting into existence right inside Brightwood Ranch itself.
“Hello darling,” the black-haired woman said, the one with the Russian accent, the one who was called Marissa. She kissed Tallon on the cheek, as though they were close friends. She didn’t look much older than Cassie, perhaps only in her late teens or early twenties, but she carried herself with the confidence of a much older woman.
She glared at Cassie, sprawled on the dirt. “Get her up.”
Cassie tried to fight. She squirmed and crawled away, thrashing and kicking, desperately trying to use her Temporal powers, but nothing came to her. Tallon was too strong. He hauled her upright and clamped handcuffs around her wrists – ordinary ones, but it didn’t matter, because she couldn’t access her Affinity anyway.
“Why are you doing this?” she asked, trying to twist out of his grasp. “Please! Don’t—”
Another vicious backhand left her seeing stars. She coughed blood onto the dirt, and watched silently as an unconscious Ryan was lifted up by two faceless Adjusters, dragged unceremoniously along the road.
They forced Cassie up the hill toward the base. With the power down, there were no alarms or protective systems, and the satellites atop the hill would have stopped receiving or transmitting; but the explosion had alerted the soldiers. Two groups swarmed out of the base, one heading straight up the hill toward the satellite dishes and the generators beyond; the other group saw the Adjusters and immediately opened fire.
Cassie screamed for them to run, but they couldn’t hear her. She struggled and fought, kicking Tallon’s shins, but then he put a knife to her throat, the blade biting into her skin and drawing blood.
“You’re next,” he growled, his face an inch from hers.
“You don’t scare me,” she gasped, but even she didn’t believe that.
More Adjusters teleported into existence, bright flashes of light exploding across the open area where Cassie had once trained with Drill Sergeant Mathers and the recruits. She watched, horrified, as Blackforest Unit stumbled back toward the base.
Captain Clay bellowed “FALL BACK!”, but as the ex-marines retreated, they didn’t see the Adjusters appear from behind them.
Blood gushed from their throats and all five men fell dead. Clay’s body was the last to drop, his rust-colored beard staining crimson with his fading life.
Cassie gave a horrified scream, bile rising in the back of her throat. She tried to turn away, fighting the urge to throw up, but Marissa grabbed her arm and hauled her forward. Cassie looked away from the dead bodies as the army entered the underground base.
It was dark inside, with only pale-green emergency lighting in the ceiling. More soldiers swarmed down the corridors to defend their home, their base, their country. Tallon was now armed with a rifle, but it was Marissa who advanced first, flicking her hair behind her back.
“I’ll take care of it,” she purred. She flicked her hand casually, and a wave of pure Temporal Energy scorched from her hands, opening a gaping void in the universe. The soldiers could not escape her powers – they died where they stood, bloody holes punched straight through their chests.
“Nicely done,” Tallon nodded. “One sector down, eight more to go.”
Cassie dropped her weight, suddenly breaking free of her captors’ grasp; she only made it ten feet before two Adjusters took hold of her again, their long fingers digging through her clothes and into her skin.
“Stop that!” Tallon snarled, cuffing her on the back of the neck. He leaned closer to her, his breath reeking of something foul. “Zero wants you alive, but he said nothing about a few bruises.”
He touched a clenched fist to her bruised jaw and smirked. She was helpless to do anything except stumble along, forced to watch as the Adjusters decimated the Bureau of Time.
The Temporal Operations division was already empty.
Blood coated the walls, and bodies lay in crumpled heaps on the ground. Experienced men and women, all soldiers, some of the toughest people that Cassie had ever known, cut down by the surprise attack. Just like the White Tower facilities we found. They never stood a chance.
Ryan woke just as the attackers took the third sector, the hospital. The roar of Tallon’s gun ended the life of a young nurse in green scrubs, shot dead from behind as she ran screaming for help.
Cassie glanced sideways at Ryan. His eyes darted everywhere, clearly thinking of a way to escape. They passed a tray of medical equipment, and she seized her chance. She thrust her elbow straight into Tallon’s groin; he let go with a startled curse, and Cassie seized a scalpel, flicking it around like a miniature sword.
She cut something or someone – she heard a scream and saw blood – then Ryan was there, fighting hand-to-hand with the Adjusters. He hadn’t been handcuffed, leaving him free to seize a rifle from a fallen soldier. He opened fire, the gunshots deafening Cassie in the close confines of the hallway.
Her ears rang and lights flickered overhead. The world was broken down into still-frames of monsters and traitors, arcs of inky black blood frozen in the air, golden bullet casings raining down onto the ground—
She wasn’t sure how, but they had broken free, and they were running, their feet pounding on the ground. There were less bodies here, but there had been a struggle nonetheless – they were in the dorms. Bloodstained mattresses sagged with the weight of their owners – Cassie looked away, afraid of whom she might see.
They were close to Sector 9 now, and she felt a surge of Temporal Energy from Zero, burning brighter than any signature she had ever felt before – her Affinity, and her powers, were active once more.
“We have to get out of here,” Cassie gasped. She pointed at the overhead EXIT signs. Staying down here is a death sentence.
A dark shape emerged from the inky blackness, and Ryan brought his rifle around, ready to shoot.
“Stop!” Cassie cried, grabbing his arm. “It’s Natalie.”
Agent Hunt stumbled forward, her face pale beneath the ghostly light.
“Oh god, Cassie you’re okay!” she said, wrapping her arms around Cassie. She hugged the older woman back, her body shaking with an uneasy mixture of shock and relief. “I thought you were—it’s horrible, there’s so much blood—”
“We have to keep moving,” Ryan interrupted.
Natalie pulled back, wiping her nose, makeup smeared across her face. “I know. The back exit to the training grounds is still clear I think, but we—”
She never finished the sentence.
There was a powerful burst of T.E., accompanied by an explosion of light like the sun itself had descended from the heavens into the base. Cassie stumbled back, raising her arms to shield herself. She heard a sputtering gasp and Natalie’s body went rigid, a knife protruding through her chest. Her white blouse turned red, and her eyes rolled back in her head.
Cassie screamed, reaching for her Affinity, determined to reverse time; then Marissa slammed into her and pinned her against the wall, holding the bloodied knife against her throat.
“Five seconds, that’s what they say, isn’t it?” the woman snarled, shifting position to crush Cassie’s windpipe. Over her shoulder, Ryan was fighting two Adjusters, silver knives whipping through the darkness.
“Five. Four. Three,” Marissa breathed, leering at Cassie. She struggled, tried to free herself, but she couldn’t breathe. She reached for her Affinity, but Marissa pressed even harder, and her body started shutting down, prioritizing where to send the last remaining breath of oxygen. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from Natalie’s body, the agent who had been so kind and helpful to her, the woman who had always been there to help her…
“Two. One. Gone – for – ever,” the Russian purred, releasing her grip.
Cassie collapsed to her knees, her lungs burning as she gasped for air.
There was another burst of energy, and Tallon teleported beside Marissa.
“They’re tricky little brats, I’ll give them that,” Tallon growled, holding his left hand limply – Cassie had cut him with her scalpel, but she must have dropped the weapon a few corridors back. She took several deep breaths, her windpipe burning. We have to get out of here. They’re going to kill us.
“Open it up,” Marissa commanded.
Cassie lifted her head, peering through the semi-darkness. Ryan was against the opposite wall, two Adjusters holding him in place; his face was bloodied and bruised, and one of the monsters had taken his rifle.
Two more Adjusters approached the door to Zero’s cell. The guards had long since been killed or abandoned their posts, but Cassie knew there would still be five more soldiers on the inside, ready to defend the base and the captive until the dying end.
“Don’t do this,” Cassie croaked, “don’t release him, you don’t know what he’s capable of!”
“Of course we do, sweetheart,” Marissa drawled. “That’s why we’re freeing him.”
The cell door cranked open, pylons retracting into the wall. Tallon pulled a metal canister from his belt and hurled it through the opening gap, smoke billowing out of the container. Cassie heard the soldiers shout in surprise, and then came the distinctly wet sounds of a knife slicing through flesh, followed by silence.
Glass broke with a shattering peal.
The Adjuster called Zero stepped through the open door, his abnormally wide mouth stretched into a wicked grin. He left behind five guards sprawled face-first on the ground, their clothes stained red. Tallon unlocked Zero’s anti-Temporal handcuffs, letting the shackles fall to the ground.
“I must say,” Zero said, sauntering toward them, “it’s rather nice to stretch out after my little stay in there.”
The monster threw his hands wide, and Cassie felt invisible wires around her shoulders, throwing her back into the wall. Ryan yelled, struggling against the Adjusters, but his efforts only earned him a swift punch to the stomach.
Marissa took her place beside Zero, purring with pride and malice.
“Why are you doing this?” Cassie cried, trying to wiggle free of the invisible grip. Buy time, she thought, they’re going to kill us all, so just buy a little time, that’s all we need. Time to figure out how to escape. Oh god we’re not going to escape. We’re going to die down here.
“Zero gives our people hope,” Marissa said, cocking her head sideways. “He is trying to save your world, but you are too blind to see that.”
“Save us? He’s murdered people! The Adjusters have hunted Timewalkers, they’ve killed children! They are monsters!”
“Do not speak of things you know nothing about!” Zero roared, spittle flying from his thin lips. He took a step forward, T.E. rippling off his body. “You are ignorant, pathetic wretches! No matter what name they hide under, the Bureau of Time or White Tower, they are a cancerous organization that must be destroyed out before they condemn your world like they did mine!”
“We can talk about this!” Ryan shouted, his lip swollen and red. “The Director will—”
“NO!” Zero bellowed, his face contorted in rage. “There will be no discussion, there will be no negotiation! I was created to atone for humanity’s mistakes, and I will do that however I see fit!”
With the final word, a powerful wave of energy tore free of Zero’s body, blasting through the walls with enough force to shatter the tiles. Jagged shards of ceramic slashed across Cassie’s face and arms, and the ceiling rumbled dangerously.
“I want to thank you,” Zero said, with a mock bow. Concrete dust and loose tiles rained down around him, but he kept his eyeless gaze on Cassie. “You helped me into the heart of the Bureau of Time. I am afraid, however—” a ponderous groan filled the air, “—that I can only repay your assistance with mercy. A swift death is far more than you deserve, and far less than I had intended.”
Cassie strained against the invisible shackles, drawing on her Temporal powers, trying to break free; Zero nodded once at Marissa, and the Russian girl moved, a wicked grin carved on her face. She raised her hands, preparing to use her dark Timewalking powers…and then the ceiling imploded.
Chunks of concrete and broken lengths of rebar rained into the room; a cloud of dust and insulation fibers billowed into the air. The invisible tethers released and Cassie hit the ground, coughing as dust filled her lungs.
Zero and his two subordinates had become separated by the rubble, with Ryan stranded somewhere to Cassie’s left – he shouted her name; then there was the frantic sounds of fighting. She tried to yell back, but her shout turned into a choked cough. She scrambled away from the ruins, tripping over debris.
Her Affinity spiked sharply, then fell flat – the others had teleported away. She ran for a hundred feet then drew up short, hands on her knees.
How could the Bureau have been so blind? Zero – that bastard – he warned us, he said he’d attack the Bureau. And Tallon…how could he betray us, after all that’s he done, fighting Adjusters and saving Timewalkers? Why now?
There was another rumbling boom from somewhere deep inside the facility. Several seconds passed. There was nothing but the dark, the distant screams, the roar of gunfire, and the bursts of Temporal Energy that accompanied teleporting Adjusters.
Cassie started forward, blindly groping the left-hand wall.
She didn’t recognize what part of the base she was in. She was alone, and afraid. She wished Shaun was there to help her, but he was long gone, and even Ryan had been separated from her. Is he alive? she wondered. She didn’t know which of them she was thinking about – both were in equal amounts of danger.
She rounded a corner, and a halo of light exploded directly in front of her. A snarling Adjuster lunged from the collapsing wormhole, naked steel gleaming in its hand. She acted instantly, Shifting time by three seconds.
When the world reformed, she stepped sideways, slamming her entire body into the incoming Adjuster. The monster roared in surprise, dropping its knife – she seized the blade and whipped it around, black ichor spurting out of the creature’s shins. The Adjuster hit the ground, its limbs thrashing, trying to trip her.
She let out a furious yell that contained all of her anger, her fear, her grief, and plunged the knife into the monster’s chest.
The Adjuster twitched and lay still, inky blood pooling across the cold tiles. She pulled the blade free, four inches of bloodied steel, and watched with cold satisfaction as a swirling void consumed the assassin until there was nothing left but a black stain.
Cassie pushed herself upright and staggered forward, following overhead signs toward the rear entrance that linked the gym and showers with the training yard. Two more Adjusters tried to attack her, and she killed each of them by Shifting time, plunging her knife into the monsters’ backs, waiting just long enough to see them disappear before pushing through the base.
The whole facility was shaking now and she quickened her pace. Tiles cracked off the walls, and whole sections collapsed in a shower of concrete, forcing her to double-back through Sector 6 – Science and Research.
A thick layer of smoke had gathered in the labs. Fires burned unchecked, fueled by paperwork and beakers of strange chemicals and materials. The usual army of scientists and assistants were nowhere to be found, but Cassie saw more signs of Adjuster activity – bright patches of blood, abandoned knives, spent bullet casings lining the floor. Her Affinity spiked every few seconds, gradually becoming a high-pitched whine in the back of her skull. She stumbled through Sector 6, holding her breath against the smoke. She awkwardly climbed over an upturned desk blocking her way and squeezed through a half-closed door, back into the open corridors.
Cassie broke into a sprint. The ground buckled beneath her; the ceiling crumbled behind her – the whole facility was collapsing. She hurtled around a corner and glimpsed the exit three hundred yards away, already open.
The floor rippled and she tripped. In a blur of motion, the ceiling and the ground were reversed, and the earth opened up to swallow the base. Then she was on her feet again, heart racing, blood pounding in her ears. The distance was closing between her and freedom, but she didn’t have time, she wouldn’t make it—
Cassie pushed herself, feeding on Temporal Energy itself to propel her forward. She Shifted the world around her just enough to fend off the dangerous chunks of concrete and the steel beams.
She squeezed through the doorway and rolled onto the asphalt; she spun around to see the entrance collapse underneath the rubble, the entire hillside imploding, trees cracking and splintering.
A sinkhole opened in the hills, swallowing Brightwood Ranch.
Cassie took a ragged breath, then another.
She stood and wiped a hand across her face. Her hand came back covered in blood – both crimson and black.
Then came the shouting. Carefully, she made her way through the woods, leaves and twigs cracking beneath her feet, a thin layer of snow shaking free overhead. Her Affinity flared, detecting Zero and dozens of other Adjusters – she grimaced, praying that none of the creatures noticed her Temporal signature.
She crested a hill, crawling through a low bush. Snow and ash wormed in between her fingers, chilling her.
A handful of Adjusters were leading a group of hostages toward a much larger gathering; all of the captives were on their knees with their hands behind their heads. It was too distant to make out everyone’s faces, but Cassie clearly saw Ryan, Amita and several Directors on the ground, knives held across their throats. Her hands shook, and she had to stop herself from running down the hill.
Shaun’s voice in her mind: There’s nothing we can do. Walk away. The Bureau brought this on themselves. It’s not our fight.
Shut up, Shaun.
Zero paced back and forth in front of the hostages, his voice booming across the Ranch. From Cassie’s elevated position, she could see the fence lying in complete ruin, no longer capable of defending the facility. More Adjusters teleported into existence, scarlet sashes around their arms. Marissa walked between the ranks, her fingers trailing across the cheeks of several male operators – she lingered longest by Ryan, and fresh anger rose up inside Cassie.
“You are all guilty of the same crime!” Zero bellowed. “Guilty of existing. You are abominations to the universe, unholy anomalies that should never have existed. You are a threat to billions of innocent people in this world!”
Cassie crouched lower in the scrub, her eyes fixed on Ryan. The soldier was struggling to remain still, requiring two Adjusters to hold him in place. Marissa moved on, watching Zero with pure reverence. Tallon stood behind the gathering, directing several of the Adjusters around.
Cassie’s eyes returned to Ryan, to the only person in the Bureau she still trusted.
“Don’t do anything stupid,” she whispered, even though she knew he couldn’t hear her. More Adjusters arrived in incandescent explosions, these new arrivals carrying silver briefcases that radiated their own Temporal signatures.
“I am the Balancer!” Zero roared. “I am the first of my kind, the leader of the Resistance, and I will not allow you to destroy this world as you destroyed my own!”
He’s crazy. He’s actually insane. And he’s going to kill everyone down there.
“Get it over with, you sick bastard!”
Cassie flinched. Ryan’s voice. She lurched forward, half-hidden in the brush. Her eyes were glued to Zero as he sauntered over to Ryan, crouching down in front of him. Their conversation was loud enough to carry up to Cassie’s hiding spot.
“What did you say?” Zero’s voice was icy.
Be quiet, don’t talk back, she prayed.
“I said, get it over with! If you’re going to kill us, just do it already!” Ryan snarled, straining against the hands holding him back. On the outside of the gathering, the Adjusters ignored the commotion, opening the silver briefcases and withdrawing a smooth cylindrical device from each.
“I’m not going to kill you,” Zero said, rocking back on his heels, his voice sweet with mock indignation. “Not here, at least – no, that’s not my style.” He chuckled, a wet sound in the back of his throat. “This is a war, and so I must take prisoners. Don’t despair – I’m sure we’ll find a use for you on the other side.”
The Adjusters activated the cylindrical devices, placing them in six points around the tarmac. Cassie blinked as a bright light beamed between each of the points, forming a glowing hexagon, the hostages and Adjusters contained within the energy field.
Zero stood. He turned to face Cassie, staring directly at her, over a hundred feet away.
“Cassandra Wright!” Zero bellowed. “Today, the Bureau of Time is no more. We are the Resistance, the ones who turned our backs on the liars and frauds! Warn your friend, warn Shaun Briars; tell him that I come for my revenge!”
The cylindrical devices started emitting a high-pitched whine; Cassie grabbed her head, her Affinity screaming as waves of Temporal Energy exploded out of the strange devices. Then Ryan lashed out with his elbow, striking an Adjuster; he leaped to his feet, running straight toward the edge of the energy field.
Cassie screamed his name, abandoning cover without thinking. She slid down the hill, powerless to help as an Adjuster grabbed Ryan around the throat and hurled him into the ground.
Zero was shouting, Ryan was fighting, Cassie was running.
Several other operators and agents tried to fight off their attackers – ribbons of crimson blood arced through the air as the Adjusters cut down the hostages one-by-one. Ryan tripped his captor, his shout drowned out by the roar in Cassie’s ear as the devices powered up – now she was just twenty feet from the bright light, hand outstretched—
Ryan struggled upright, but Zero was directly behind him, face contorted in rage—
Cassie seized Ryan’s arms, the light flashing purple—
The pair tumbled backward onto the hard ground; Zero was almost to the edge of the field—
And then, with a colossal explosion of light and Temporal Energy, the tarmac and everything inside the hexagon vanished into pure nothingness. Cassie’s Affinity subsided instantly, leaving behind a conspicuous silence.
Thin tendrils of wispy smoke drifted through the air. Ryan gasped and stumbled upright, his legs almost giving out as he walked toward the hangar, his jaw hanging open. Cassie followed him.
In the place where, just moments ago, there had been a hundred people and dozens of Adjusters, there was nothing but scorched earth. Small fires burned where the cylindrical devices had been placed.
“What just happened?” Ryan asked, his voice cracking. He shook his head, distress and horror etched on his face. “What the hell just happened?”
“I don’t know,” Cassie said, her voice small. She leaned against Ryan, exhausted, her mind and body pushed to their absolute limit. “But I do know we’re alive.”
Ryan wrapped an arm around her shoulder, comforting and firm.
“Zero has started something here,” he murmured. “This is just the opening salvo in a war against the Bureau of Time. We have to respond in kind.”
How can we? There’s nobody left to fight with us, she wanted to say. But she couldn’t bring herself to voice the words, only to stare at the smoke, and wonder where a hundred people had suddenly vanished to.